As integrated circuit (IC) and printed circuit board (PCB) design and fabrication techniques become more sophisticated, computer system design techniques must also become more sophisticated. This is because as IC's and PCB's become more densely populated, their performance capabilities and speeds increase and computer systems which employ these IC's and PCB's must be able to support the increase in performance. In addition, as businesses that employ these computer systems and components become more sophisticated, they demand greater performance from their computer systems resulting in increasingly densely populated PCB's and computer systems having tightly packed packages. As a result of these tightly packed packages, these PCB's and computer systems are susceptible to a variety of problems which must be considered.
In order to increase decorative appearance of packaging while providing denser packages, it has become necessary to eliminate a weld pad area such as spot and fillet welds. Elimination of a weld pad area allows the use of pre-plated materials in areas where customers have a clear view without burn marks typically associated with a weld pad area. Furthermore, by eliminating burn marks, an additional costly touch-up process to coat the welded area is eliminated
For example, it is known to join complimentary configured dovetailed edges using a “cross” patterned swage across an interface thereof to join mating dovetail edges without a spot or fillet weld. The “cross” patterned swage forms three edge swaging contact points. However, this process appears to work only for light loads and small applications.
Accordingly, a method and apparatus for fastening two coplanar edges without using welding and touch-up processes that creates a stronger bond for use with heavier loads and/or larger applications is desired.